Equinor entered Argentina in 2017, where we participate in two onshore, unconventional exploration licences. We opened an office in Buenos Aires in 2018.

How to find us in Argentina

Our activities in Argentina

Equinor entered Argentina in 2017 and holds an onshore exploration agreement in the Bajo del Toro license (as 50% partner with YPF) as well as an exploration licence in the Bajo del Toro Este (as 90% operator).

These positions fit well with Equinor’s sharpened strategy, and is in line with our exploration strategy of delivering profitable, high-quality resources.

Argentina’s unconventional oil and gas resources are among the world’s largest. The Vaca Muerta is a geological formation of 30,000 km² located mainly in the province of Neuquén and containing oil and gas found at a depth of more than 2,500 meters.

Argentina’s Neuquén province is the country’s most prolific hydrocarbon basin. The Nequen province is located at the northern end of Patagonia.

BAJO DEL TORO

In August 2017 Equinor, then Statoil, and Argentina’s leading energy company YPF entered into an agreement to jointly explore hydrocarbons in the Bajo del Toro block.

Equinor entered the agreement as a partner with 50% interest and YPF as the operator with the remaining 50%. The Bajo del Toro exploration permit covers an area of 157 km² (38,800 acres) and the area has light oil potential in a world-class unconventional resource play, the Vaca Muerta formation.

Equinor will operate the licence with a 90 % working interest, with Gas y Petróleo del Neuquén (GyP) retaining a 10 % interest. The Bajo del Toro Este licence borders the Bajo del Toro licence to the west. The Bajo del Toro Este exploration licence permit covers an area of area of more than 133 km² (32,865 ac).

Equinor has committed to one exploration well within the four-year exploration period, which starts in 2018.

In brief: The Vaca Muerta geological formation onshore Argentina

Argentina’s unconventional oil and gas resources are among the world’s largest

The Vaca Muerta is a geological formation of 30,000 km² located mainly in the province of Neuquén and containing oil and gas found at a depth of more than 2,500 meters. Argentina's Neuquén province is the country's most prolific hydrocarbon basin. The Nequen province is located in the west of the country, at the northern end of Patagonia.

Vaca Muerta is expected to host major deposits of tight oil (shale oil) and shale gas. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the formation contains 16.2 Bbbl of tight oil (shale oil) and 308 Tcf of shale gas.

The Vaca Muerta Shale has long been known as a major petroleum source rock for conventional accumulations in the Neuquén Basin, which has had oil production since the 1920s. Vaca Muerta has attracted a number of international oil companies, which are exploring and producing in the country.